Archive for April 20th, 2010

My brother is a big fan of the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona games. The Shin Megami Tensei games combine magic, technology, and the occult. In this series, the human and demon worlds can be bridged through technology, creating all kinds of problems. Shin Megami Tensei III takes place after the Apocalypse has destroyed the world. Hero (the protagonist) is reborn as a demon and must reshape a world overrun by demons in post-apocalyptic Tokyo. I’ve heard some of the music from the series, but am not deeply familiar with it, so my brother picked a few recommendations. The first is “Normal Battle ~Large Map~”, one of the main battle themes from Shin Megami Tensei III NOCTURNE (Digital Devil Summoner, 2003).

“Normal Battle ~Large Map~” happens to be my brother’s favorite track from the game, and it’s a great pick. This is some solid rock music, with a catchy tune and a deep, pronounced drum beat. It’s divided into three sections with a vocal break in the middle adding heavily distorted vocals. I can’t quite make out what he’s saying, but it seems to be channeling Japanese punk rock, and this type of thing can be found in most of the tracks.

Shoji Meguro is responsible for most of the Persona and Shin Megami Tensei/Digital Devil Summoner series of games, working with Atlus since the late 90s. This is even more notable because each game has a slightly different feel to it, though his style is pretty recognizable across Nocturne and Persona 3 and 4. There is a lot more information on him in Japan, but none of it has been translated to English.